Valter Flego, lead candidate of Fair Play List 9 in the European elections, said on Wednesday that the Most party's call to take children out of schools and home-school them or enrol them in religious schools if parents do not agree with the values taught by the school system is dangerous.

Petra Mandic, a member of Most’s praesidium, said on Tuesday that according to the constitution, parents have the right to educate their children according to their values and that it must be ensured that the Croatian education system remains imbued with these values.

If these values are not integrated into the education system, new systems such as home schooling and the enrolment of children in religious schools must be considered, she added.

MP Flego said he was shocked by the statements of Most party leaders “in which they call for an ideological revolution in Croatian schools.” This is dangerous rhetoric aimed at radicalising and dividing our society,” he added.

Flego said it was worrying that Most was instrumentalising children for this purpose and that he was against any form of their ideological instrumentalisation, especially attempts to deny children their basic right to institutional education and regular school attendance.

“Such initiatives are pure conservative demagoguery. They pose a threat to civil society and the fundamental values of liberal democracy. I therefore condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” he said in a statement.